Page 90 of Never a Hero

Nick released Corvin’s fist in a deliberate gesture, almost careless. ‘Try to touch her again, and I won’t just break your hand.’

Corvin clambered to his feet, his hand cradled to his chest. Did he know who Nick had once been? Maybe not. His face was a shocked mask as he stumbled back.

Corvin banged on the door with his good hand: three quick pounds. It opened, and he scrambled out. Joan heard the lock click and the latch fall.

There was a long silence. Joan shifted experimentally. Relief hit her. She could move again. She eased herself to her feet and backed up from Nick, trying not to spook him. She was overly aware that she was locked in here with him. That she couldn’t escape as easily as Corvin had.

Nick’s eyes were fixed on her searchingly, as if trying to make sense of her expression. He was still chained, but he reached for her with his free hand. ‘Are you all right?’ he said.

For a moment, Joan wasn’t sure how to answer the question. ‘He didn’t hit me.’

Nick’s eyes weren’t quite the hero’s anymore. That dangerous expression was already fading to confusion.

‘You’re bleeding,’ Joan whispered. ‘Are you okay?’

Nick’s hand rose to touch his bottom lip. His fingers came away smeared with blood. He frowned and wiped the blood away with the back of his hand. ‘The Argent power’s gone,’ he said. ‘I felt it break.’

‘And …’ Joan’s mouth was so dry. ‘How do you feel about monsters now?’

Nick’s expression turned inward as he considered her question. ‘How do I feel?’ he said.

In the window behind him, every cloud was perfectly still. Joan felt just as still as she waited for his reaction.

And there it was. Nick’s face filled with understanding, with horror. He lifted his gaze to Joan’s. ‘Monsters steal human life,’ he said. ‘Monsters prey on humans.’

Joan’s heart felt like a drum. She stepped back.

Nick’s dark eyes were nearly black. ‘If people found out the truth …’ he said, very low.

By people, he meant humans. What would happen, Joan wondered, if they found out? Would there be a war? Who would win? In any given time period, there were surely more humans than monsters. But monsters had access to technologies from the future. And if all the monsters of history converged during the period of the battle …

Joan remembered then something that Aaron had told her: the Monster Court placed monsters high up in human circles. He’d been talking about the police at the time. But who else in authority were monsters?

Nick answered his own question. ‘Humans would fight,’ he said, and Joan couldn’t prevent her shiver. He’d fought last time.

Nick went to stand and was halted by the chain. He blinked down at it, head tilted. Joan had the impression that he was calculating angles. Then he put his foot against the fireplace’s stone wall and wound the chain around one arm. He wrenched at it, heavy muscles straining. He yanked it once, twice, and it broke away, stone crumbling around it.

Joan gasped. She’d known that Nick had abilities in the other timeline—he’d killed Edmund by throwing a sword with perfect accuracy. But she’d never seen the extent of what he could do.

Nick straightened, his body moving easily despite the beating. He focused on Joan again. ‘Why do you look so scared?’ he said slowly.

Images flashed through Joan’s head—Nick slicing into Lucien Oliver’s body; Nick throwing a sword into Edmund Oliver’s chest. Nick telling Joan: If you ever steal time from a human again, I will kill you myself.

And now the Argent power was gone. He knew what monsters really were. What Joan was.

Nick took a step toward her, and Joan couldn’t stop herself from stumbling back. Nick’s eyes widened. He stopped in his tracks, looking sick. ‘Are you scared of me?’ he said. ‘You think I’d hurt you?’

‘Do you …’ Joan hesitated. Do you have any new memories along with those new abilities? ‘Do you feel like yourself?’

‘Nothing’s changed for me,’ Nick said softly. ‘I told you we’d just talk, and we will.’

Joan had meant it as a different question: Are you him? Do you remember? But she had her answer. This wasn’t him. The other Nick wasn’t anywhere anymore. She’d felt it from the moment she’d woken up in this new world—in the hollow absence inside her. The boy in front of her was still the new Nick, untrained and untortured.

Except … he’d caught Corvin’s punch. He’d torn a chain from the wall. He hadn’t just broken through the Argent power; he’d broken through to something else too. ‘Nick …’

‘I’m myself,’ Nick said now. ‘The Argent power’s gone. Joan … you said I’d hate you when the Argent power came off. I don’t. I …’ He looked vulnerable suddenly. Uncertain. ‘All the things I said are still true.’

I could never hate you. It’s the opposite.

---